A veteran correction captain has resigned after video surfaced showing her allegedly kissing an inmate inside New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail, KTLA’s sister station WPIX reported.
Sources sent WPIX cellphone video that purportedly shows Capt. Shantay Dash walk up to an inmate’s cell and talk briefly with him before leaning in for a kiss.
“What the heck?” Dash yells after the kiss.
Right after that, the two exchange a high-five.
The inmate appeared to record the entire incident on a contraband cellphone that was hidden inside his cell.
Dash was not at her Brooklyn home when WPIX visited Monday, the same day the Department of Corrections said she resigned from the job. Dash left her position just shy of her 10-year anniversary, meaning she will receive no pension, WPIX reported. Dash also walked away from an $80,000 salary.
A few weeks ago, WPIX was granted access inside Rikers Island, which is undergoing a massive 14-point reform plan. Commissioner Joe Ponte discussed at length the topic of inmate-staff relationships.
“They develop relationships that are unhealthy,” Ponte told WPIX. “They get staff — again, in small numbers — to bring in phones and contraband.”
That is something Dash was familiar with doing. In January, Dash was arrested, according to court reports, for allegedly smuggling a tattoo gun into Rikers Island so an inmate could change a tattoo marking that linked that inmate to a crime.
After that arrest, Dash was placed on modified duty away from inmates, but did not lose her job, WPIX reported.
The Department of Corrections released a statement saying:
“That vast majority of Department of Correction staff perform their duties with the highest level of integrity and Commissioner Ponte has zero tolerance for those who don’t.”